Following testing crash, Keselowski says road courses are most dangerous tracks
Brad Keselowski said Friday following his head-on collison at Watkins Glen on Wednesday that he believed road courses were the most dangerous types of tracks because of the angles in which a driver can hit the wall.
Keselowski’s car had a brake failure during a testing session and slammed into a foam-covered wall head-on at approximately 80 MPH. The 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion emerged unscathed from the accident and said he felt the danger resulted from not only the angles in which a driver can hit a wall at a road course but also because of the large run-off areas at a track like the Glen, where the Cup Series races next week.
“In general, I’m not comfortable with tracks that have run offs that lead to very harsh angles, and that’s certainly the situation that that track has, and always has had it,” Keselowski said. “Road courses remain the most dangerous tracks in motorsports for a good reason because of that, but we know that going in. Some place has to be the safest and some place has to be the most dangerous. It’s funny because a lot of times we end up talking about Daytona and Talladega and they don’t ever worry me as much as road courses do, I can promise you that.”
Watkins Glen has a significant run-off area on the outside of turn 1 and drivers enter the 90-degree right-hand turn coming down a significant hill. Keselowski’s crash was the latest spectacular crash in that area of the track. It’s impossible to forget Jimmie Johnson’s collision there in what’s now the Xfinity Series.
Cup Series driver J.D. McDuffie was killed at Watkins Glen in 1991 in a crash in turn 5. His accident, along with Tommy Kendall’s crash in a sports car race, inspired Watkins Glen to add what’s known as the “bus stop” chicane before turn 5 to slow cars down from the long straightaway before entering the corner.
The track also does not have SAFER barrier on it but has tire barriers and other impact-absorbing reinforcements in particular areas.
“Preferably, we’d just have angles to where when you hit you can hit it with a SAFER barrier and not have to worry about things, but I understand there are some limitations there because a lot of these road courses run different series and so forth, and they don’t want to get into a situation where a minor spin damages some rich guy’s $300,000 car,” Keselowski said. “So there are some trade-offs there, I understand, but that’s just part of it. ”
Keselowski broke his left ankle in a 2011 testing crash at Road Atlanta where he had a head-on collision. He credited safety improvements his team and NASCAR have made over the last five years for helping prevent any injuries from what happened on Wednesday.
It’s also worth noting Keselowski’s testing crash at Atlanta happened the week of a race at Pocono, where he won. Guess where the Sprint Cup Series races on Sunday? Yep, Pocono. Perhaps Keselowski can follow this crash up with another victory.
The testing session at Watkins Glen was held because the track has been repaved since the 2015 season. The new pavement is resulting in higher speeds, and, if Keselowski’s comments hold true, could also result in a one-groove racetrack for next weekend.
“I think we’ve seen a pretty dramatic shift in probably the last four or five years with respect to the type of pavement that’s being used to repave the tracks,” Keselowski said. “We probably saw that again at Watkins Glen, where the pavement is very, very smooth. It lasts a really long time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t wear the tires, which is a key component to the way the cars perform and it’s kind of an interesting relationship there, but the track itself has a lot of grip, it’s very smooth and should put up some fast speeds.
“Of course, the struggle is to try to get the cars to where they can run in multiple grooves because of the limitations of the tire and the new surface, so the track itself is in beautiful condition to run single file, but we’ve got to continue to work on aggregates and tires and all those things to open up the passing.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
